Some unusual NZ created products

Diana Clement of New Zealand Herald wrote of some of the more unusual products that New Zealanders have created and commercialised in recent years.

In this article she identified 3 products: namely, a gas powered “hangi” cooker, a public toilet and an of all things, an eco-coffin.

We were told that the Maori traditional way of cooking known as Hangi , involved digging a pit and using Manuka wood as a fuel source, stones that are heated by the wood and wet sacks which continuously drip onto the stones. The combination of heat, steam and Manuka ash cooks the food with a smoky Hangi flavour. After 3 – 4 hours in the ground, the moisture evaporates from the wet sacks and the dryer heat roasts the food.

I am sure it takes a long time to prepare the traditional in ground “Hangi “oven. A New Zealander Doug Andrews saw the need to create a cooker which would produce food similar to a “hangi taste “without having to spent time to do it the traditional way. He created “The Multi Kai Cooker “which is a gas powered low pressure cooker that produces mouth watering meals quickly and easily. Multi Kai Cooker is now produced in NZ and is exported to the US, Australia and many Polynesian countries.

Reading this story I am reminded of our electrical Rice cooker which has made boiling rice so easy. I have seen electrical steamer, though small, it is very effective for household use.

Then there is a story on state-of-the-art Public Toilet facilities. In Kuching if there is a need to visit a toilet, the easy way is to find it in coffee shops. Our coffee shop toilet is not a pretty sight, if not dirty. The Local Council has also built “ shed like ) Public Toilets, and would normally sublease the facilities. My friend, a Council Contractor , told me , he does not make much money out of it –what he is saying is that maintenance cost is high and payment collected would go into the pockets of the attendance in charge .

A New Zealander Dan Glew has developed a“a self managing’ Public Toilets which “sing, lock and unlock themselves morning and night and wash themselves down, removing 99.9 per cent of micro-organisms. The most up-to-date Exeloos also report to their owners over the web – able to provide updates on the statistics of how often they’re used or wash themselves or even if the doors are opened or closed.”

“Currently there are 29 of the toilets installed in the Auckland region. But to see the best examples of Exeloo’s toilets people would need to visit Melbourne in Australia or US cities such as Washington DC and Atlanta, Georgia “says Glew.

Then there is an eco-coffin. Designed by another New Zealander, Greg Holdsworth.

He said
This of his eco coffin (http://www.returntosender.co.nz/index.html )
“The most dramatic change he made to the traditional coffin design was to turn the casket upside down, with the deceased lying on a flat plinth.”When my father died I wanted to sit with him for a few hours and have the old bottle of bourbon we’d talked about sharing. But you can’t see him from the top of a box. With my Artisan casket the person lies in state instead of inside a box.”

“I decided to go back to the drawing board and break the mould of traditional thinking.” The most dramatic change he made to the traditional coffin design was to turn the casket upside down, with the deceased lying on a flat plinth.

“When my father died I wanted to sit with him for a few hours and have the old bottle of bourbon we’d talked about sharing. But you can’t see him from the top of a box. With my Artisan casket the person lies in state instead of inside a box.”

For materials Holdsworth settled on plywood because it had a New Zealand feel and wasn’t laden with the chemicals of a MDF/plastic coffin. “Plywood is practical from a strength and weight point of view.”